Broadcasters have a need to implement blackout controls for the content they broadcast. Blackout controls regulate which end users are permitted to view the content broadcasted by a particular broadcaster and which end users are not. Blackout controls are especially important for sports broadcasters. Live sports viewing and other live events are typically subject to various regional restrictions, redistribution restrictions, or other restrictions. Broadcasters negotiate contracts with different sports leagues and/or individual teams. The contracts specify which events or games the broadcaster has the right to broadcast, as well as when and where they can broadcast the events or games. When the broadcaster does not have exclusive rights to broadcast an event nationally, the broadcaster may need to blackout the event in regions where other broadcasters have the broadcasting rights for the event. Blackout controls may also apply to programmed content, such as movies and television shows. Should the broadcaster fail to adhere to the broadcasting restrictions, the broadcaster may be in breach of contractual obligations specified by the content owner.
FIG. 1 illustrates a traditional architecture and model with which broadcasters enforce blackout rules. The architecture involves a broadcaster 110, a super head end (SHE) 120 of a particular content distributor, various video head end/hub offices (VHOs) 130 of the particular content distributor, and end user subscribers 140 of the particular content distributor.
The broadcaster 110 disseminates its content or content of another content provider in encrypted form via satellite or ground based connections to an Integrated Receiver Decoder (IRD) at a SHE 120. The broadcaster 110 may also broadcast alternate content along with primary content, wherein the alternate content is to be used as a substitute for the primary content wherever the primary content is subject to blackout. To specify blackout zones where viewership of the primary content is restricted, the content provider or broadcaster 110 signals the IRD to receive the alternate content, which is then delivered to end user subscribers 140 assigned to that IRD.
The SHE 120 aggregates the encrypted programming content of the broadcaster 110 and other broadcasters. The particular content distributor VHOs 130 then obtain the channels or programming from the SHE 120 that is relevant for the VHO's geographic region. The VHOs 130 decrypt the programming content, enforce any blackout signals embedded with the content, and distribute the content to the end user subscribers 140 associated with each VHO 130 region.
This architecture works for cable, satellite, and fiber optic content distributors and allows broadcasters control over blackout zones for their programming content. However, this same blackout model is unmanageable for over-the-top (OTT) Internet streamed content.
In the distribution architecture of FIG. 1, each VHO 130 is responsible for serving a specific set of end user subscribers 140 that are within the same region as the VHO 130. As such, the VHO 130 knows which blackout zones it is responsible for and can enforce blackout rules specified for those zones without further regard to the specific end user subscriber 140 that receives the content from the VHO 130.
In an OTT Internet based solution, an end user subscriber can theoretically connect to any server in the distribution architecture. The server therefore cannot enforce blackout rules as would a VHO 130, wherein the VHO 130 enforces blackout rules based on the region it serves. In other words, the server cannot simply send the primary content or alternate content to all end users requesting content from the server, because, unlike the end user subscribers 140 that receive content from a VHO 130, the end users requesting content from the server in the OTT Internet based solution can each be located in different regions, with no or different blackout rules applying to those different regions.
To overcome these issues, OTT Internet based content distributors have relied on the end user client player for blackout enforcement. The server embeds blackout zone information as control data that is passed with the content stream sent to an end user client player. The client player then enforces blackout rules defined for the blackout zones when the end user machine is located in one of the zones. This approach, however, limits the content provider's ability to perform per client customizations, requires specialized client players that can extract and execute the blackout rules, and, in many instances, complicates the configurations for distributing streaming content.
With respect to customizations, the content distributor and content provider are limited to sending control data that is supported by the client players. Therefore, if the client players do not support new customizations that the content distributor wants executed, the content distributor needs to first update each and every deployed client player. This also makes client player reusability across different content distributors impossible as each content distributor wants control over updating the client player. To avoid this issue, content distributors distribute their own client players. This in turn degrades the end user experience as the end user may need to download and run different client players when streaming content from different content distributors.
With respect to configuration complication, a content distributor may be required to create different links to the same streaming content in order to differentiate users in different regions. The content distributor then has the issue of presenting the different links to the different users and is reliant on the client players selecting and switching between the different links.
Relying on the client player to enforce the blackout rules also leaves open the possibility of unauthorized access to restricted content. In such instances, the server sends the primary content stream to a client player unless instructed by the client player to send alternate streams. If end users find ways to hack or spoof the client player, then the content distributor will have no ability to enforce the blackout rules against those end users.
Consequently, there is a need to simplify the overhead that is associated with enforcing blackout rules for OTT Internet based delivered content. Specifically, there is a need to replace specialized client players with generic client players and the above noted issues associated with enforcement of blackout rules at the client player. There is further a need to automate blackout enforcement such that no operations involvement is needed, all while still providing broadcasters control over blackout rules affecting their own content.